This is the time of year when wildflowers are everywhere, if you look for them! They may surprise you when you’re on a walk or riding in your car. They are often short-lived, but add a special cheer to springtime. These are all pictures from Sedona Arizona taken in late May 2023.
Hopefully you will enjoy these and be inspired to go out in your area and look for a surprise wildflower, maybe in your own backyard!

Prickly pear cactus – 2 pics. Plant +bloom.
The prickly pear cactus is easily identified by its paddle shaped segments shown above. In addition to its beautiful springtime blooms (shown at the top), this plant is quite versatile. The pads can be cooked and eaten like a vegetable. The fruit will ripen later in the summer to a red color. Native Indians made good use of the prickly pear plant. They may have eaten the fruit raw, or made jams from it. Both the pads and fruit were used as medicine for various maladies. The spines that grow on the pads were even used as needles for sewing.

The plant below is the Mirabilis multiflora. You won’t always find this plant in the beautiful setting with Bell Rock in the background, but it will add beauty to any scene. It is in the four o’clock family and commonly known as the Colorado four o’clock. It likes gravelly and sandy soils, and typically grows at an elevation of 2500 to 7500 feet. It thrives in a little shade from trees. It too has been used by indigenous people for food and medicine.

Ocatillo is a flowering spiny shrub that thrives in desert and rocky soil conditions. They are characterized by long spindly and spiny stems that grow from the base of the pkant, and bloom in the spring.

The white desert evening primrose also known as the Tufted Evening primrose is shown below. Like all the flowers here that we saw in the Arizona desert it is a very drought tolerant plant, This particular variety spreads everywhere through reseeding unlike some other varieties of the evening primrose that are root-spreading. It is characterized by 4 white petals that are heart-shaped.

So you may not see these desert plants near you, but look around, do a web search for wildflower viewing in your area. Enjoy the springtime surprises in the wild!!